A Rare Breed
by Dragonsdaughter
Summary: Funny the difference a few weeks will make. One day you're the one who made the wish, the next day you're the one wished away. Sarah must now make some kind of life in the Labyrinth, but not as Queen.
1. Dieux! Je desetais le Francais!

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A Rare Breed

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By: The Dragon's daughter

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*Disclaimer* (sobs in corner while rocking back and forth) don't own Jareth... Don't own Jareth...

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Sarah's back in the Labyrinth, only this time she isn't getting out. She's been wished away by her own personal evil stepmother. Now she has to adjust to everyday life in the Labyrinth… with a little help from a certain Goblin King!

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"Je frappe a ta porte, je frappe a ton coeur..."

Sarah only listened with half an ear as M. Renoir droned on in French. She stifled a yawn and fought to keep her eyes open.

God, she hated French...

"Por avoir bon lit, pour avoir bon feu..."

Sarah breathed in deep and let her head sink down onto her fist, she was almost through trying to look attentive. Most of the others in the class had already succumbed to the urge to pass out and had had M. Renoir descend upon their heads like a buzzard bellowing insults in French.

"Pourquoi me repousser? Ovre-moi, mon frere."

The air before Sarah's eyes began to shimmer and she squeezed her eyes shut partly in attempt to pretend that Jareth wasn't about to materialize in front of her and partly because watching him manifest gave her a headache because her subconscious was fervently trying to convince her it wasn't happening.

"Go away!" she hissed underneath her breath.

"No." He replied glibly and slid into the desk beside her. "My, he has an awful accent doesn't he? I could teach you French better than he could." 

That always was assuming that he didn't get bored with it after the first lesson. Of course it was part of the point that Jareth was trying to make, Sarah supposed.

"Go away." She hissed again.

The boy in front of her twisted around to see if she was talking to him, Sarah gave him a chill, even stare that convinced him to turn around and pretend he couldn't hear her talking to thin air.

"Oh, but it's so much more interesting here!" Jareth chuckled. "I must confess your High School is nothing but a joke! I could see your entire family better taken care of by bodily transporting them to the Labyrinth. They certainly aren't managing very well on their own."

Sarah pointedly turned her attention to the ratty little man pacing back and forth before the classroom muttering in barely coherent French.

"That was an offer, you realize." Jareth whispered into her ear.

"Miss Williams!" M. Renoir snapped. "Do you find the view out of the window more interesting than the poem?"

'Are you kidding? Hell yeah!' Sarah shook her head and returned her attention to the teacher. "Of course not, sir." She said with barely any inflection. "I'm very sorry."

Jareth mouthed her speech along with her and sighed dramatically.

M. Renoir harrumphed. "Kindly pay me the compliment of your attention in the Future, Miss? Now... Pourquoi me demande la longuer de mon nez..."

"What a good little student." Jareth mocked with his eyes on M. Renoir. "No life, no interest, no imagination; another face in a sea of faces. Is this what your kind calls education? Bah!"

He then disappeared with a disparaging snort and was not to be seen again until the bell rang and Sarah was swept into the hallways on a tide of student bodies. He was lounging against the wall outside the classroom.

He had taken a form that Sarah occasionally saw him in, mostly when he was in a mood to be seen by someone other than Sarah. He looked like a teenager with slicked back blonde hair. Today he wore one of those black stretchy spandex tops, loose black jeans, and a pair of black tennis shoes. The silver cross hanging from one ear and the pewter beads strung about his neck enlivened the monotony of his clothing. His pants were belted with a black leather belt and a bulky silver buckle.

"Can I carry your books?" he offered coolly.

As much as she disliked his presence, Sarah turned the stack of books over to him and led the way to her locker. She'd tried to withhold the books before and he always just magicked them away.

Whispers flew back and forth as Sarah and Jareth walked down the hallway, her in stony silence and him chattering away merrily as if this were the most normal thing in the world.

Sarah noticed, with what she assured herself wasn't a twinge of jealously, the girls around her when they surreptitiously glanced back to check out Jareth as they passed. She knew Jareth had noticed them noticing him, it was the sort of thing he was constantly conscious of: attention.

"Most of them think you're gay." She grumbled in a growing bad temper.

Jareth's eyebrows flew up. "Do they?" he asked in surprise. He glanced back at the last girl to check out his ass, she giggled and elbowed a friend... a -male- friend who winked at Jareth. He turned back to Sarah. "Really?" he frowned. "It must be the make-up." He decided.

"Yeah..." Sarah shook her head as they reached her locker. "Why do you follow me around, Jareth? I know I've asked before, but you never really answer me."

Jareth leaned against the other lockers as Sarah crouched down to fiddle with the dial on hers. "I'm waiting, you might say."

Sarah felt a chill of foreboding. "Waiting for what?"

He smiled charmingly down at her. "For you to come to your senses. I only offer myself once, Sarah, but once I do I stop at nothing until the object of my affection accepts."

Sarah scowled. "Of course, I should have realized. And how many times have you offered yourself?"

"Once, before you, she is dead." A shadow passed over Jareth's eyes. "She's been dead for nearly two hundred years now. Gone, but not forgotten. She would have loved you, by the way. She would probably have been here with me trying to lure you into a group marriage."

Sarah flushed as she heard the note of forgotten pain in Jareth voice. "I'm sorry." She said automatically.

"You say that entirely too much." Jareth said in annoyance. "Of course, I should expect it, considering the people who are responsible for raising you and your generation." He shook his head in disgust. "I absolutely cannot -stand- the idiocy that occurs in this establishment on a day to day basis. They are teaching you to be victims and to roll over and die. Whatever happened to the fire that drove the immortals out of the aboveground, eh? Did it die once you all had no one to fight with other than yourselves?"

"I suppose it did." Sarah said blandly as she took to the books from Jareth's hands. "It is always said that people are always at their best under duress."

"Not all people." Jareth muttered. "But there are exceptions." He smiled fondly down at her.

Sarah flushed and stared at her locker. "I can't go back with you," she said flatly.

Jareth sighed. "Must you bring up that sordid topic again?" he complained. "Really, we could have been quite happy if you had just accepted me the first time. But no, you had to go back to this disgusting little cesspool of a realm where the very -air- is poisoned to supposedly 'save' your little step-brother."

"Exactly, to save him! I couldn't let his entire life be torn apart just because I was being a selfish brat!" she snapped. "When are you going to get the fact that it wasn't about me, nor was it about you! It was about saving Toby's future from my stupidity!"

A smile eased across Jareth's lips. "Of course, it was never about what -we- wanted. Was it, Sarah?" he purred. "Even now you stay because you would be missed, because your step-mother characterizes all Evil Step-mothers, because you love your father even though he barely notices you anymore, and because when Toby says 'Mama' he means you. I know all of that, Sarah. I know you."

Sarah burst to her feet. "Then why do you torment me!?"

"Many reasons." He replied lackadaisically. "One, I needed to know you realized why Toby had been endangered. You wouldn't have benefited if you considered -me- the villain forever now would you? Two, I know all about mortal psyche. I had to make sure that you wouldn't convince yourself that the Labyrinth, Heggle, and I hadn't been some sort of dream."

"Hoggle." Sarah corrected him automatically. "His name is Hoggle."

Jareth made a face. "Whatever." He growled. "The point is that I have been 'tormenting' you, so to speak, so that you won't end up like these placid morons." He gestured sketchily at the rapidly emptying hallway. "Adventure is fleeting, herd mentality is forever."

"And all that 'fear me, love me, do as I say' spiel?" Sarah asked coldly.

Warmth tinged on Jareth's voice. "That was me trying to seduce you, dearest. I am attracted to you, I think I might even love you." he held up his hands as Sarah drew herself up in indignation. "Don't look at me like that! Emotions come harder to the Fae, for a reason as well. Can you imagine falling head over heels in crush with another; only to have the attraction turn bitter as it so often does when you are immortal? Could you imagine what it would be like to see that person everyday for the rest of eternity, and no, you couldn't just 'make-up' either. One has a very limited social life in the Underground, we avoid strong emotions like the plague."

Sarah pulled her lips to a disapproving line. "And the point of this speech is...?"

Jareth scowled. "By Danaa's name, you are hard headed." He cursed. "Well, sometimes words just aren't enough..."

That was all the warning she got before Jareth pulled her into his arms, scattering books this way and that. Their lips met in a scalding kiss that shook Sarah all the way down to her toes.

Well, if anyone still thought he was gay they certainly didn't think it now.

She gasped as Jareth pulled away... he was in his true form and the Crystal Ballroom stretched out around them.

His gloved hand traced the outline of her face as she stared around her.

"Don't worry, Darling." He assured her. "None of your teachers will report your absence, indeed they won't even notice you are gone."

He took one of her hands and clasped it between his own, energy surged around her and suddenly she was in the splendorous white confection that Jareth had clothed her in during the Crystal Ball way back when he'd slipped her the drug-laced peach.

"I trust that this time I won't need to bespell you to convince you to dance with me?" he purred as he pulled her close.

"... But..."

"Think before you answer, Sarah. Last time neither of us had any choices but now it is not about anyone else but us and we have several hours to ourselves before I must return you home like a good swain." Jareth chuckled. "Do you think your parents would enjoy meeting me?"

"I think they'd prefer that I was dating a black lesbian biker." She said candidly.

Jareth laughed. "I suppose it's a good thing that I don't care what they think, now isn't it?"

He drew her onto the dance floor and phantom music began to play. Sarah easily matched his effortless dancing with a grace she rarely got to employ. "... I'll place the stars within your eyes..." he murmured into her ear. "They'll match the ones already there." He caressed her cheeks. "Pale jewels..."

Sarah flushed. "Cruelty that melts into kindness... how do you manage it?"

"Being cruel to be kind." Jareth whispered. "It made it so much easier to solve the Labyrinth if you could hate me, didn't it? I didn't mind. It amused me to see you play the Hero rather than the Damsel in Distress for once. Did you enjoy it?"

Sarah swallowed. "More than I should have." She admitted.

"Don't be ashamed." Jareth spun her out into a quick sprint and then pulled her back in close to his chest. "You're a rare breed in this day and age. As are villains with brains."

Sarah snorted inelegantly with laughter. "You watch too many movies."

"Indeed I do." He confessed without shame. "Marry me, Sarah, and watch them with me!"

"How can I refuse a romantic offer like that?" Sarah joked.

"Easily." Jareth said quite seriously. "But I hope you won't."

Sarah blushed. "I'm 15, Jareth."

"And?" he asked. "I'm 675, let's not quibble over numbers. Shall we?"

Sarah snorted. "Unless my parents sign a little slip of paper or some such, I can't get married at least until I'm 18."

Jareth shrugged. "Three years, that's not long to wait. Not to me of course, that can be an age to you, though."

"I can manage." Sarah said dryly.

"I believe you can manage anything," Jareth told her quite seriously. "I believe that miraculous quality was what first attracted me to you... like a moth to a flame."

"Oh, that's flattering."

Jareth grinned. "It's true, so are you agreeing to marry me?"

"You haven't really asked." Sarah pointed out. "And I just told you that I can't."

"... For another three years." Jareth quoted. "Of course, I'll ask again then."

Sarah had the sinking feeling that he wasn't joking.

Oh well, there were worse things that could happen.

She could still be in French class.

*Fini

AN- the only line of French in this that I understand is Pourquoi me demande la longuer de mon nez which translates roughly as 'why are you asking why my nose is so long?' The whole French verse he was reciting was a French poem that my French Prof. Makes us recite every-damn-day.


	2. Qui estce que tu est?

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A Rare Breed

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By: The Dragon's daughter

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*Disclaimer* Will you quit rubbing my nose in it already?!

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AU-

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Chapter Two

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Sarah fell onto her bed with a gusty sigh.

She'd just skipped an entire day of school to spend with Jareth.

Hell had officially frozen over. Satan was building a snowman and the war between heaven and hell was being fought with snowballs.

Off in her parent's room Toby began to wail and Sarah automatically rolled to her feet to trot off to comfort him. By the time Karen had grudgingly brought herself to the top of the stairs Sarah had Toby out of his cradle and was bouncing him on her hip.

Toby immediately stopped crying as Sarah's hair caught his eye. He grabbed a handful of it and stuffed the glossy strands into his mouth. Sarah let him have the hair; she could wash it later.

Karen sighed as she saw that Sarah had the crisis under control... until she saw Toby sucking happily on Sarah's hair.

"Don't let him do that!" she cried and yanked Sarah's hair out of his mouth pulling Sarah's hair uncomfortably as she did so. Sarah winced and shrugged as Toby scrunched up his face and began to bawl again. "If it makes him happy, I don't care and he shouldn't choke on it."

"I don't want Toby to develop any bad habits!" Karen said disapprovingly.

"Karen, he's two and a half. It won't make a difference either way if he sucked on my hair when he was a baby. It's not like he sucks on anyone else's hair... unless of course you want to keep him crying?"

Karen threw up her hands. "Fine!" she turned on her heel and left the room.

Sarah shook her head, that was how Karen supposedly 'won' an argument in a mature, 'adult' fashion... she stalked off when her opponent looked ready to hold her ground. That was happening more and more these days, ever since Sarah had returned from the Labyrinth with the knowledge that screaming and whining never solved anything. 

Now, whenever Karen seemed to be ready to goad Sarah into a fight, Sarah just couldn't find it in her to sacrifice dignity and give into her. When confronted by cool disinterest Karen usually lost her steam and retreated.

That didn't bother Sarah too much, in fact she found she no longer cared whether Karen was going to like her or not. Karen wasn't even ready to try, no matter what she said to Sarah's father. She'd entered Sarah's life ready to hate her stepdaughter for being an unspoken reminder of the fact that she hadn't been first. Sarah had to wonder about that, her father tended to be attracted to bright, energetic, caring folk. How had he fallen for someone who refused to care about anything that did not affect her personally?

Sarah had learned her lesson in selfishness long ago, thanks to Jareth, and she was willing to understand that Karen had never had someone spell it out to her but she was quite certain that Karen's irrational hatred of her wasn't normal under any circumstances. Sometimes it seemed as if her stepmother was afraid of her...somehow.

Toby promptly returned the sticky lock of hair to its proper place in his mouth. Sarah chortled as Toby reached for the tip of her nose in vain. She caught his chubby baby fingers with her free hand and let him close his grip around the tip of her finger

Oh yes, she had definitely learned her lesson.

"How could I have ever thought of you as a burden?" she cooed to him and strolled out of her parents' bedroom... just in time to catch the argument going on downstairs.

"... I'm telling you Robert! It's _her _or me! She's taking my own baby away from me!"

"Now, Karen..."

Sarah ducked into her bedroom carefully humming loud enough so that neither she nor Toby could hear the bickering going on downstairs. She was fairly positive that listening to a 'domestic dispute' at this age wouldn't have any ill effects on him but she'd met people who remembered being in the _womb_. 

Toby was one of the brightest babies she had ever seen, not that she had a wide knowledge of children. But considering that he had fairly been immersed in magic as the tender age of twelve months, she wasn't taking any chances on how much he heard and understood of the world around him.

It was the same old fight anyway, ever since Toby had spit out his first word; 'Mama', while looking up at Sarah in adoration Karen had cemented the gulf between her and her stepdaughter. Never mind that Karen essentially made it one Sarah's many jobs to look after Toby all on her own and only paid attention to him when absolutely necessary... 

Toby followed the movements of Sarah's face and eyes carefully. A speck of drool collected at the corner of his mouth where he'd been sucking on her hair and Sarah wiped it away with her sleeve.

"What was she expecting?" Sarah asked Toby. "_I _know you're my baby brother, but as far as you're concerned 'Mama' is the one who feeds you, changes you, and holds you when you've hurt yourself."

Toby spat out the chunk of hair (Sarah quickly flicked it over her shoulder to get it out of reach) and gurgled happily. His eyes sparkled and he clapped his hands.

'Of course!' he seemed to say. 'You're just now figuring this out?'

Sarah snorted at her own imagination and set Toby down in his 'play pen'. The playpen was actually an old wicker laundry basket padded with towels that were too shabby for Karen to have in her bathroom yet had been too nice to throw away. There was a cotton sheet stretched over them so that the rough terry cloth of the towels wouldn't rub a rash on Toby's sensitive skin.

He gurgled happily again as Sarah went to her bookshelf and carefully examined her collection of children's fairy tales...

"Hmmm."She thought out loud. "What romantic drivel will I contaminate your young mind with today, Toby?" she turned to her infant half brother with a mischievous grin on her face. "What will make Karen the maddest?"

Toby squealed with delight and waved his tiny fists in the air.

Sarah spun dramatically to face the shelf. "Let's see... The Children of Lir?" she paused to think. "No, that's legitimate mythology. Karen wouldn't mind that so much. Um... ah, here's The Little Mermaid , the real version!" she paused in reaching for the book. "Nah, the Grimm Brothers' tales are a little gory for you. The Demon's Beauty Contest? Nah. Ah! Here we are!" Sarah's fingers found a slender red book that slid easily into her hands. "The Labyrinth." She murmured.

Toby's giggles ceased and he watched her with strangely serious eyes.

Sarah strode over to the basket and squatted down in front of him. "I think I should read this story to you every now and again, I don't want you ever to forget The Labyrinth." She whispered. "That was a once in a lifetime experience, Toby, I think it would be good that _neither _of us forgot it."

Sarah sat herself down on the window seat and pulled Toby's basket closer to her. "You know, Jareth visited me at school again today." she told Toby, who was a marvelous listener for someone his age or maybe _because _of his age. He never interrupted and he never gave unwanted advice.

Toby grasped the edge of the basket and heaved himself to his unsteady feet. "Up!" he demanded with his limited toddler's vocabulary.

Sarah's eyebrows lifted, although she should have known better than to be surprised by now. Toby's vocabulary seemed to be growing by leaps and bounds, even if he never spoke to anyone but her except for that one incident in front of Karen.

Sarah obediently lifted Toby into her arms and settled him into her lap where he cuddled into the crook of her arm and looked up at her expectantly.

'Okay, now you can talk.' He told her with his eyes. 'I'm where I need to be.'

Sarah laughed... only to be cut off by a crash from downstairs and the sound of Karen shouting in the distance. "She's -your- daughter, Robert!"

Really, could Karen be any more transparent?

Sarah scowled and opened the book. "Once upon a time there was a beautiful young girl who lived in a place not far from here, her mother had deserted her when she was but a young child and her father had remarried a cold woman who brought a son into the family..."

***

Robert prided himself on being a gentle man where his wife and family were concerned; he had never raised his hand to anyone except maybe to deal a few well deserved swats to Sarah's rear after some of her more dangerous escapades as a child.

The expensive carpet that covered the hardwood floor of the living room was littered with the shards of the Waterford crystal vase that Linda had left behind for Sarah to inherit. Karen stood among the debris glaring at him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I don't know what it is you want me to do, Karen." Robert said helplessly. "I can't just send her away, she's my daughter."

"I refuse to have that _creature _in my house a minute longer!" Karen hissed. "She's contaminated Toby with her unrealistic patter long enough and she's stealing my _son _from me! Do you know what's like to see your own child call another person by the title that is _yours _by right!?"

Robert frowned. "Karen, if you wanted Toby to be close to you then maybe you shouldn't have made Sarah take over his care, it's only natural that he see the person who loves him and..." 

"I love him!" Karen protested angrily. It was a sore point between them that Karen considered Sarah no more than a live-in nursemaid for Toby.

'You have a funny way of showing it.' Robert thought scathingly. He was beginning to wonder what he had _ever _seen in this spiteful woman. She hadn't been like this even a year ago, it seemed like a mask had dropped sometime over the past few months...

"Send her to her _mother_, send her to boarding school, kick her OUT! I don't care, I never want to have to see her again!"

Robert felt his mouth settle into a grim line. Maybe he had just been blind to it; it had been Karen's cool grace and elegance that had drawn him to her. She was nothing like Linda... he squeezed his eyes shut. Nine years still hadn't dulled the pain much; he still missed the dark mystery and exotic fire that was Linda.

"It's her or me, Robert." Karen repeated.

Now the cool, graceful, lady-like woman he'd hoped would erase Linda from his heart was demanding that he choose one of his children over the other. How had he never seen this side of her before?

"Well if that's what you want, Karen, I suppose I have no choice." He said quietly. "I'll go upstairs and tell Sarah."

A triumphant sneer spread across Karen's ice queen features, her shoulders eased back, and her chin lifted a fraction of an inch. "I'm glad we agree, Robert."

Robert chuckled mirthlessly. "So am I, Karen."

***

"...And she fell and she fell and she fell, it seemed as if she would fall _forever_! Suddenly, arms burst from the walls of the shaft and caught her before she could fall any further. 'Help!' she cried and the hands across from her formed a face with their fingers. 'What do you mean 'help?' we are helping!' it said. Another one formed to it's right. 'We're helping hands!' it said proudly..."

The door to Sarah's room banged open. Sarah snapped her gaze to the entrance where her father stood. He was breathing hard from the short jog up the stairs and his eyebrows were lowered in a fierce grimace.

"Pack your things, Princess. As many clothes as you can fit into your leather bag and all your favorite things, pack Toby's things too." He informed her curtly. "We'll be staying in a hotel tonight."

Sarah blinked. "What's wrong, Dad?"

He smiled tightly. "I'll explain later, Hon. If Karen stops you, don't talk to her just keep on doing what you're doing. If she gives you trouble, call for me."

Sarah slipped the copy of the Labyrinth into her pocket and hoisted Toby onto her hip. "Okay, dad. Do you know where Toby's sling is?"

Robert nodded curtly. "Downstairs, I'll bring it up to you. Don't go to the car until I come and get you. Lock the door and don't let your stepmother in under any circumstances."

Sarah frowned as suspicion blossomed like a bloody flower in her mind. "Dad, is this about the..." she got no further than that when Robert's eyes blazed.

"Do as I say, Sarah." He commanded. "I told you I would explain later and I will."

Sarah nodded slowly, "Yes, Daddy." She complied and went to her closet to retrieve the aforementioned leather bag.

Robert left the room and Sarah heard him snap the inside lock shut as he left. She sat back on her heels and looked at the shut door. He had just locked her door from the inside! Why would he do that? She could just open it from in here...

... Unless he wasn't locking her _in _but locking someone else _out _instead.

"This is bad news, Toby." She told her brother gravely as she tossed the bag onto her bed and began selecting some of her more favored articles of clothing in it... there wasn't too much of it. Sarah preferred to keep her laundry to a minimum so she selected an array of blouses, pants, and skirts that mixed and matched in a pleasing manner. As an afterthought, she tossed in her ivory colored costume dress and matching slippers.

Although there was plenty of space in the bag after her clothes and certain feminine toiletries, she was a little afraid that she wouldn't have enough room for her most treasured possessions.

The copy of The Labyrinth fit in her pocket well enough and the book ends that resembled Hoggle fit well enough in the bag without taking too much space. The slender blue statue of Jareth went beside it wrapped in a shirt and the music box her mother had given her received similar treatment. The book of Where the Wild Things Are that depicted Ludo in several places was an awkward fit but not too bad.

Sarah tossed her Sir Didymus plushy into Toby's basket and he wrapped his small arms around it solemnly, however when Sir Lancelot followed suit he ignored it. Sarah didn't waste too much thought on it, but some part of her acknowledged that and noted it as odd. Normally all other toys were discarded when Lancelot came into sight, it was as if Toby recognized the way she...

'No way.' Sarah told herself as she tucked Lancelot into the bag since there was room for him. 'He's just a baby...'

Sarah decided to concentrate on packing. She just happened to have some of Toby's things in here that for one reason or another hadn't made it back downstairs when she had last taken Toby on an outing.

There was the oversized carryall with several changes of clothes in it as well as a canister of formulae and all the proper diaper changing paraphernalia. What she didn't have was a proper blanket for him or his baby bag, which carried some of his food and bottles. Both of those were downstairs; the blanket was in the wash and the bag was hanging off the coat rack.

Sarah's eye fell on the downy church hill weaver's throw on her armchair. She snatched it up and stuffed it into the carry all. It would do.

Sarah cast an eye across the room... there were so many thing she loved here. She rubbed her arms, why did she have the feeling that she was never going to see them again?

Two of the photos of Sarah's mother that Sarah kept in her desk drawer made it into her bag and just as she was closing it there was a soft knock on her door.

"It's me, baby." Came her father's voice. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, Dad." Sarah answered cautiously.

"Can you let me in?"

Sarah unlocked the door and Robert tossed in Toby's shoulder sling. With practiced ease, Sarah looped in over her shoulders and slid her younger brother inside. "I need Toby's baby bag." She told her father.

Robert nodded. "Karen is in the kitchen right now, go out the front and get into the garage from the side door. Wait for me in the car."

Sarah nodded and her father left again, she noticed he had his old olive drab army duffel slung over his shoulders and that he was heading for the kitchen.

"Looks like he came to his senses, Toby." She whispered and slung her own bag on.

As she left her room to escape the house she didn't notice the slim red book fall out of her pocket and hit the rose colored carpet.

***

End Chapter Two


	3. Allouai!

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A Rare Breed

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By: The Dragon's daughter

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*Disclaimer* this is getting pretty old.

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AU-

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Chapter Three

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Lightning illuminated the yard as Sarah darted across the lawn loaded down with bags and baby.

"Oh, now _this _is really unfair!" she muttered to herself as fat raindrops began to shatter against her cheeks. "It's just downright uncalled for!"

Without so much as a speck of flash or glitter Jareth appeared by her, easily matching his pace to hers. "I'm beginning to think you just say that so you won't have to swear."

"Someone give the man a cigar." She grumbled and ducked into the empty garage. She looked around for Merlin for a moment until she remembered that he was at the vet getting his doggy Aids shots. 

"Hey!" she cried as her bags vanished. "Jareth, I don't have time for this!"

He sniffed disparagingly. "They are merely stowed in your father's van. I am well aware of your situation and I came to warn you, it's going to get worse. Your father is threatening your step-mother with divorce if she doesn't accept you." he paused and cocked his head as if listening. "... And your father is about to be single once more. Karen is running up the stairs... and angry. I think she's going to smash up some of your things."

Just as she'd expected... Sarah scowled as she slipped her set of keys into the lock on the door. "How do you know?"

He gestured expansively. "How do I know anything? I do know however that you've left your copy of The Labyrinth inside the house and that Karen has just found It." at Sarah's shocked expression he chuckled grimly. "It gets worse, she's opened it and is reading the book to see what sort of 'sentimental chatter' you waste your time with..." he blanched. "No!"

Sarah looked away from the door. "What."

Jareth looked genuinely pale but he shook himself and his normal calm swept up to surround him again. "What a spiteful creature she is." He thought out loud.

Sarah's arms closed reflexively around Toby. "What has she done?"

Jareth shook his head. "I must go... there may still be some hope." and he vanished just in time for Robert to storm into the garage. Toby's pale yellow bag dangled from his hands.

Sarah was positive that her face showed signs of what had just happened but Robert went past her without saying a word and unlocked the car himself. "You've probably already figured out what happened." He said brusquely.

"You're leaving Karen?"

He said nothing. "We'll stay the night at a Motel 6 (c) and I'll see a lawyer in the morning. I'll let Karen have the house and the furniture except for your things and what your mother left you. Hopefully I'll get custody of Toby."

Sarah chuckled mirthlessly. "She made you choose between me and her, it won't be hard for the judge to decide."

Robert snorted. "There is that." He tossed his bag into the back of the Van and let Sarah get Toby fastened into his car seat. "I'm sorry about this, Princess..." he started.

"It's not your fault, daddy." Sarah said absently, most of her attention was focused on just what exactly Karen had just done. Jareth was not the type that spooked easily.

Robert winced and buckled Sarah's seat belt for her when she took her place in the front seat. "Dad!" she cried.

Robert chuckled grimly. "I haven't been much of a father have I? I practically ignored you after your mother left and--."

"... And married the Ice Bitch, yes I noticed." Sarah replied incisively. "Does the term 'I told you so' ring a bell?"

Robert flinched again. "I deserved that."

"Yeah, you did. Let's go, now we can put it behind us." Sarah suggested not ungently.

Robert nodded and pulled the car out of the garage.

***

Jareth did not heed Karen William's summons right away. Instead he stayed just beyond the physical realm and watched the vicious woman as he tried to pull his composure together again.

He had truly been expecting her to make a wish tonight, a wish of some sort. He'd been waiting for anything that would give him an excuse to whisk Sarah away to the Underground where she didn't have any excuses to put him off with.

He hadn't been expecting _this _though. Karen's wish put a damper on his plans.

Jareth was very rarely surprised, in fact the last time it had happened was when Sarah had refused him and his world last year and chose to return to this... this... wretched excuse for a society.

Intellectually he could understand that now, he'd just seriously underestimated Sarah's character. The whole fiasco had been his fault in a way; he'd been expecting her to dissolve into tears halfway through the Labyrinth just _convinced_ that she could not solve it. That was he would have waltzed in and fixed everything, on the condition that she stayed with him happily ever after, of course.

Of course the fact that she had proved him _embarrassingly_ wrong was actually rather endearing in a way, it had been a long time since he'd taken up with a woman who didn't really need him.

Actually, now that he thought about it, Jareth was hard pressed to remember his last _healthy_ relationship... it had to have been when he married Anestria!

Well... that was a slap in the face...

A muffled crash caught Jareth attention and he saw that Karen had gotten into Sarah's room and was smashing the glass in all the framed pictures of Linda, Sarah's mother.

It was time to interrupt this little temper tantrum.

He materialized behind Karen just as the woman lifted a small blown glass swan that's he'd slipped Sarah for Christmas last year (back before she'd known him). He caught Karen's wrist in a vise like grip and removed the swan from her hand before releasing her.

"If you would _please _act your age, madam?" he said chilly.

Karen spun to face him. "Who are you and what are you doing in my house!?" she hissed.

Jareth bowed stiffly. "I am the Goblin King, and you have just summoned me to grant a wish."

Karen stiffened. "You're going to grant me a wish? Any wish?" she asked skeptically.

"Not 'any' wish." Jareth corrected. "You've already made your wish and I am merely here to tell you that I am granting it."

"What kind of game are you running? Get out of here!" the woman shouted at him.

Jareth bowed again. "With _pleasure_!" he growled. "Might I add, Madam, that is my greatest pleasure to remove young Sarah from the possibility that _you _might win custody of her in the divorce."

He vanished before Karen's shocked eyes before he lost his temper, and when Karen turned back to Sarah's room she found it devoid of anything Sarah valued… even the things she'd already broken.

***

Robert pulled the van over into the illuminated parking lot of a Gas-n-Go. He leapt out the side and hooked up the gas pump into the van. Sarah gingerly disembarked from the van with Toby's limp body slung against her shoulder, drooling fondly down her neck. 

"You go get something to eat and formula for Toby if there is any." Robert told Sarah and handed her a credit card from his wallet. "If there's anything you didn't have a chance to grab in the house, see if you can get it here. Kay, Princess?"

Sarah nodded. "Okay, Daddy." she smiled tentatively and Robert smiled back, albeit tiredly.

"This marks a new life for us, Sarah." he said. "My company has been talking of transferring me to New England. I guess I'll take them up on it now, I was going to refuse because Karen didn't want to leave this New York."

Sarah shivered as she felt Jareth's presence wash over her. She pulled the folded Churchill weaver blanket out of the van and tossed it over Toby to keep off the chill. "See you in a bit, Daddy!"

She turned on her heel and skipped into the mini-market just in time to see Jareth emerge from the men's room in a trucker outfit. She hid a smirk behind her hand; he really couldn't pull it off no matter how far he went into character.

His hair was limp for once and bound back in a ponytail, he sported a shadow beard, his make-up was gone, and he was dressed in a grimy coverall and worn hiking boots. He tipped his red sox baseball cap at her when he laid eyes on her and Toby.

"I wouldn't worry about supplies, Sarah," he told her in an undertone as he pretended to look over the snack aisle beside her. "You won't be needing them. At least, not where you're going."

Sarah blinked. "Excuse me?"

He looked sad as he laid a hand on her shoulder. "Please recall that I don't have a choice about this. However, I will be able to help you once you get there." his hand drifted up to her cheek. "You won't be able to go home ever again, nor will Toby. Your stepmother wished for both of you to go away and never return. I hope you'll forgive me for this… I know you didn't want to go back, but now you have no choice."

She surprised him with a resigned sigh. "I understand." Her hand went to pat Toby's back. "What about Dad? How will I take care of Toby?"

"I'll help you as much as the Code will allow," he promised. "Hoggle and Didymus will aid you as well. When you arrive in the Labyrinth, concentrate on finding the Oubliette. Have the Helping Hands take you down _gently_. The portable door is still down there so you won't be trapped. I'll have your luggage down there."

"And Dad?" she pressed.

Here Jareth grinned nastily. "I'll leave an illusion of you getting into the car and then someone coming and stealing the van with you in it. Your father deserves to sweat about you a little."

"… Not for the rest of his life!" Sarah protested.

"I'll take care of it, darling." Jareth dropped a quick kiss on her mouth and magicked her away while she was still sputtering in indignation.

He sighed and erased the cashier clerk's memory of the past two minutes before going outside to stage a kidnapping.

There were times when he seriously disliked his job; especially when it came to angering his future father-in-law.

***

Sarah landed squarely on her feet. Small clouds of reddish dirt rose around her sneakered feet. She straightened up and looked around, Toby gurgled to life and raised his head up off her shoulder to look around.

"Gaaaa!" he announced with a gap-toothed grin and then, having delivered his proclamation, laid back down and abandoned the conscious world.

Sarah sighed and started to descend down the side of the knoll where she'd appeared. It was the same one she'd appeared on last time she'd been here. The Labyrinth stretched out before her and sprawled out across the horizon. She eyed the dark and heavy clouds overhead dubiously. She needed to get under cover fast. 

Hopefully Hoggle would be out assassinating fairies again today, he spent most days doing that. He'd know how to get to the Oubliette.

As she nearly the outer reaches of the Labyrinth, near the gate if she remembered correctly, she saw a short figure bearing a spray gun hunched over one of spindly bushes outside the Labyrinth walls.

"Hoggle!" she called and he jerked up.

"Whozzat?!" he yelled and then broke out in a grin as he spotted Sarah. "Missy!" He pulled his cap off his balding head and waved it energetically.

She fell down on her knees when she reached him, careful of Toby, and gave Hoggle a firm hug. "It's good to see you again!"

"What are ye doin' here, missy?" he asked incredulously. "I wasn't expectin' at see ye until Solstice 'tide."

Sarah pursed her lips. "I'm here for good," she said shortly. She didn't dwell on the fact that she was exiled to the Labyrinth overmuch; she suspected if she did she'd go into shock and that was a luxury she didn't have at the moment.

"Bu'… what? I don't understand…" Hoggle stopped himself and got a good look at the war for control going on in Sarah's eyes. He nodded abruptly and cast a leery eye at the sky. "We need to get that one under cover," he said brusquely with an oblique gesture at Toby.

Sarah nodded gratefully, Hoggle knew her better than anyone else. He knew when sympathy would just hurt her. "Jareth told me to go to the Oubliette."

Hoggle blinked and then nodded. "Smart that, the Oubliette's a good spot of shelter once ye know how ta get out again. Are ye really here fer good, missy?" he asked as they came to the great doors.

Sarah nodded. "Toby and I are."

He grunted to himself. "That's gonna be an interesting story, that." He waved the gates open. "Now, getting' to anyplace in the Labyrinth ain't all that hard. Ye just concentrate on it and keep walking; eventually ye'll get there. I'll be with ye so there's no worrying."

Sarah smiled at him. "Thanks Hoggle, you're a good friend."

"Nah, ain't no one countin'. We is neighbors now, I got my den near the Oubliette an' ye kin get to the Bog right easy from there too." He shrugged. "Ye might consider making the Oubliette home, it's the best place I kin think of for ye. That's prolly why Jareth told ye ta go there."

The outer corridor trap was kid's stuff to get through, and the sandstone maze unfolded quickly to let them up against Alf and Ralf, the card dogs.

"You again! Didn't ya learn yer lesson the first time!" Alf barked at her.

"Maybe she's still lost?" Ralf suggested, eliciting howls of laughter from his counterparts.

"Look you…" Hoggle started but Sarah held him back.

"I'm the one who was wished away this time, guys," she admitted.

Everyone present, except Toby, gawked at her.

"So if you could let me into the passage that leads to the Oubliette, I'd be grateful." she finished.

"Wished ya away?" Alf sputtered. "Who'd… ah, it's that witch of a stepmother of yours. What'cha think ye were doing, letting her see that book?"

Sarah blinked. "You know about my stepmother?"

"Indeed we do, ain't many around who don't know all about you." Ralf pointed out. "You solved the Labyrinth, you is famous!"

She blushed. "Oh… I see. Um, could you let me through?"

The card dogs conferred and Alf moved away from the door. When Sarah hesitated, Hoggle was quick to reassure her.

"That whole 'one only tell the truth and the other only lies' bit it for the challengers, Missy." he said. "Alf an' Ralf is right helpful for residents."

She relaxed. "All right. Thank you both." she said to them and the dogs muttered something gracious.

Sarah quickly fashioned a sling from Toby's blanket and cradled him against her chest in it, then she walked up to the edge of the door and tapped the ground with her toe. It obediently fell away and she could see the dark blue hands lining the walls of the tunnel.

"Excuse me!" she called down.

Some of the hands formed a sketchy face near the mouth of the tunnel. "Yes?" it replied. "Do you need something?"

"Yes, I need to get down to the Oubliette and I have a baby with me. Could you take us down… gently?"

"Of course! We live to help!" the face said cheerily. "Put your legs down and let us get a hold on you. Will anyone else be going with you?"

"Yes, my friend Hoggle." Sarah told it.

"Then we'll take him down after you."

Sarah sat down on the edge of the tunnel and dangled her legs down into the tunnel, she felt the Helping Hands take firm yet gentle grips on her legs and she scooted down into the hole.

The Hands quickly lowered her down the tunnel in an efficient manner, even if they did occasionally grip her in awkward places. When they reached the bottom, another face formed and offered to hold Toby while she dropped down to the bottom.

"Yes, thank you." she undid the wrap and let the hands take Toby.

They let her down and she landed somewhat unsteadily on her feet. "Okay!" she held up her hands to receive Toby and within a few moments he was back in his sling.

Candles had already been lit in the Oubliette, no doubt courtesy of Jareth, and the place had been cleaned from top to bottom. The walls still sparkled with veins of quartz, but the creeping cobwebs were banished from the place. Her luggage and a few other items from her room were grouped together in one corner of the room. Sarah was glad to see the wicker basket that had served Toby as a playpen/crib when he was in her room.

Carefully, she laid the comatose baby in the basket and then retrieved Lancelot to tuck in beside him. 

Hoggle arrived then as she covered Toby with his blanket. He dangled over the edge of the hole for a little while and then fell to earth with a grunt before Sarah could catch him. He was up and dusting himself off, looking none the worse for wear when she reached him.

"Are you all right, Hoggle?" she asked.

"I'm a dwarf!" he said proudly. "It'll take a bit more than that ta hurt me!"

"Good!" She sighed.

Another face assembled itself and peered down the tunnel at them. "Excuse us, miss? Will you need anything else? It's starting to rain up topside and we'd like to get back in the wall."

"No, thank you!" Sarah cried back. "Go ahead!"

"Do you want us to close the dome here as well? Sometimes water gets through the trapdoor. It won't cut off the air, Master Jareth put a circulation spell in here to keep prisoners from suffocating."

"If you would, please." Sarah bowed slightly and the Hands wrestled the clear glass dome over the hole and vanished.

Hoggle poked at Sarah's luggage. "Looks like yer covered for the time being."

She nodded. "Yes, I'll have to talk to Jareth about getting a bed and a crib in here if this is where I'll live."

"I'll take ye to the Junk Yard outside the Goblin City, tomorrow." Hoggle promised. "That's where everyone in the Labyrinth gets their stuff. I'll lend ya some blankets and such to bed down in tonight."

"Thanks, Hoggle." She sighed and sat against the wall. She swallowed hard as facts began to hit her; her stepmother had banished her from the human world forever.

She might never see her Father again, she'd never go to Grandma Jo's for Christmas again, there were so many things in the Aboveground that she'd miss sorely; hamburgers, lipstick, hot running water…

Hoggle squatted down beside her and patted her back as the tears started to fall.

****

End Chapter Three


	4. Je tu accueillir

****

A Rare Breed

***

By: The Dragon's daughter

***

*Disclaimer* this is getting pretty old.

***

AU-

***

Chapter Four

***

Sarah awoke the next morning to musty blankets both from the broom closet and from Hoggle's den, eyes dry and gummy from crying herself to sleep, and the sight of Jareth's shiny high heeled boots.

She rolled over and looked up at him. "What time is it?" she croaked and frowned because her throat was sore.

"8 something ungodly in the morning." he replied glibly and knelt beside her. "You look awful, dear." he said in a kinder tone. "Were you crying? You look like you were."

Sarah nodded numbly. "A little… maybe a lot. I think it's out of my system now. I can't really afford to let myself dwell on it."

"That's my little trooper." Jareth praised her. He summoned a crystal and reformed it into a pewter goblet, which he handed to her. "Drink, you'll feel better for it."

Sarah took it without question and tossed back the contents. She gasped as warmth pervaded her body and all the aches and pains she'd accrued from sleeping on the stone floor vanished.

"What was that?" she asked, handing the goblet back.

Jareth banished it and helped her up. "A little of this, a little of that. It's a potion of my own devising. It's time for a few lessons about your new home and a few improvements around here."

Sarah blinked but obeyed, really if she couldn't trust Jareth _now _then she really had no one to trust. He released her hands somewhat reluctantly and began pacing around the Oubliette, glancing at the walls.

When she started to ask what he was doing, he stopped and pressed his hand again a blank space of wall. "Here will do nicely." he said out loud.

Energy pulsed into the wall from his hand and the stone rippled underneath it. Sarah gasped as the ripple widened until it was a little higher than her head and extended about three feet into the floor.

The stone reshaped itself into a deep basin the floor and an elegant fountain built into the wall that resembled a woman in flowing robes holding out a large saucer. After a few seconds, there was a gurgle and water started flowing through the statue, collecting in the saucer and falling down into the basin in the floor.

"It's Circe poisoning the ocean, isn't it?" Sarah guessed as she recognized the stature; it was a replica of a painting she'd seen in an art museum once and had loved ever since.

"You had a fondness for that painting, if I recall." Jareth smiled at her over his shoulder. "It's big enough to bathe in and will be a good source of fresh water for you, but that's not the purpose I intended it for." he held out his hand. "the potion I gave you awoke certain powers inside you that you gained when you defeated the Labyrinth."

Sarah blinked. "I have powers?"

He nodded. "However since you didn't stay in the Labyrinth, they went dormant. The power I will teach you today will be your own personal brand of travel. I can move through air, since I am a Fae and all Fae are closely linked with the air element. However, humans vary." he grinned cockily. "I spent most of last night divining your nature and have discovered you to be a woman of water."

"I'm a Cancer, Jareth." Sarah told him dubiously. "I could have told you that."

He scowled momentarily. "Yes well, this is different." However he said it so testily that Sarah suspected it wasn't. 

He held out his hand. "This is actually very simple. Just concentrate on where you want to go and your magic will take you to the nearest clean water source. There's an underground river that branches all over the Labyrinth so there won't be much problem with that."

Sarah glanced back at Toby who hadn't woken up yet.. "What about Toby?"

Jareth glanced back and pursed his lips, then he snapped his fingers and a small goblin appeared with a squeal.

"Watch the child." he commanded it as it groveled before him. "and don't make a mess."

He turned back to Sarah. "We'll have to make this quick. He'll do his best, but they get distracted so very easily."

She nodded and looked dubiously at the now nearly full fountain. "Um… I concentrate and do what?"

"Just touch the water, I'll follow you." Jareth coached gently.

Sarah swallowed, closed her eyes, and thought hard on the fountain she'd seen in the Town Square of the Goblin City. Then she reached out and touched the water…

There was a odd, cool, flowing sensation and she was standing in the middle of a group of gawking goblins and feeling slightly woozy. Glitter sprinkled down beside her and suddenly Jareth was there as well.

"Bravo!" he praised her. "Brilliant work, and the first time as well!"

Sarah blushed, she wasn't used to effusive praise. At her house she was either blamed, ignored, or tolerated. "Ah… thanks." she gasped as his arm closed around her waist.

"I'll handle the return trip, you'll get used to the travel method after a while."

Then they were back in the Oubliette.

The goblin leapt to attention as they appeared. Jareth gestured for it to be at ease.

"Congratulations on mastery of your first Feat." he pushed her hair back. "I must go now and attend to my duties, but I shall return soon. Is there anything you need before then?"

"Hoggle's taking me to the junk yard to find furniture today." Sarah told him. "If you could tell me what to do about food though…"

Jareth frowned. "A definite issue." he pondered for a moment. "I will send for supplies, but you'll have to find your own method of supporting yourself soon. I will look through my library to see what you can do. Until then, you'll be taken care of."

Sarah nodded. "Thank you, Jareth. Do you know if there's a…uh… fresh water source near the Junk Yard?"

He nodded. "Several and if your concentrate, you'll be able to take things with you. A word of warning, don't be afraid to assert your claim on a bit of something or other from one of the Junk Collectors. They have claim laws." He glanced around. "Winter is coming as well and this place will become bitterly cold. Talk to Hoggle, he'll arrange for a dwarfish stone smith to put in a fireplace." He dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Adieu, my dear. Work calls."

He and the Goblin vanished just in time for Toby to come to life and demand sustenance.

***

Toby was a warm weight in the sling around her neck as Sarah and Hoggle sorted through the vast reaches of the Junk Yard. There was no shortage of cribs and larger furniture, seeing as the Junk Collectors couldn't carry them on their backs.

Sarah found and took home a lovely hand carved crib that could eventually be converted into a child's bed. Hoggle discovered a twin sized bed that could accommodate Sarah that had a bookshelf built into the headboard and drawers under it. There was no mattress but Hoggle told her they could stuff one special.

"Ye'll want a lot of storage available in that place." he advised her when they came upon a large armoire and worktable. The armoire was half drawers and the work table had storage pace under the desk top and a cabinet that was built over it.

Sarah transported them all home while Hoggle scavenged up a bunch of cups, plates, and various oddities.

After the furniture was arranged to their mutual approval, Sarah broached the subject of a fireplace with Hoggle. This made him thoughtful and he disappeared for several hours to return with a grimy, soot smeared dwarf who made all sorts of measurements and estimations before sitting down with Sarah to haggle their method of repayment.

"What can ye do?" was the first question he asked.

Sarah thought hard. "I can read and write in English." Hoggle had told her what a rare talent reading and writing were. "I can also translate a little French, I can do mathematics up to basic algebra, and I know Aboveground History. I can move things and people through fresh water, although not too often in one day."

"Ye new at the transporting?" the dwarf guessed and she nodded. "Ye'll improve. Can ye teach young'uns? That reading, writing, an' figuring?"

"I… guess so. I've never taught before." she hazarded.

The dwarf shrugged. "Me kin's kinder are good children. They's of an age to be learning regular like, but none of their Aunts nor N'uncles can spare time for it. Ye look of the type they'd respect; a real Lady. If ye'd teach our kinder then we'd see fit ta build ye a fireplace, smoke and ember ward it, put in some cabinets, and after that we'd pay ye in coin fer every month a'lessons."

Hoggle looked pensive. "How much coin?" he asked cautiously. "Lessons is rare. Ye should charge no less 6 silver a month." he said as an aside to Sarah.

"**_Six silver_**!!!" The sooty dwarf exploded. "_Three _is more than generous!"

"_Eight _is a bargain! The missy's worth _ten_!" Hoggle shot back.

"Four." The sooty one countered.

"_Five_." Hoggle replied.

"Done." Sooty spat on his palm and held it out to Sarah. "Shake on it?"

"Um…"

Hoggle cuffed Sooty upside the head. "Didn't yer mother teach ye how to treat a Lady!?"

Sarah watched as Sooty blushed under the layer of grime on his face. He started to wipe his hand off but Sarah stopped him by spitting into her own palm and sealing the deal.

She grinned. "I might as well accustom myself to this world." she said and Sooty grinned back.

"Ye'll do right well, I'd say." he replied and so it was arranged; lessons would occur every other day. The dwarfs would supply their children with their own slates, pens and paper. They'd parley with the elves for wooden lap desks, since the wood elves were best at wood craft. The dwarves would also supply Sarah with a larger slate that she could write on with chalk so she could demonstrate for the children.

Before he left through the portable door, Sooty asked her about her defenses.

"Defenses? What do I need to defend against?" Sarah asked in confusion.

"Not much," Sooty, whose name was actually Quoyle, admitted. "Sometimes a challenger come through from a less nice world, wielding sword or spell. Occasionally something nasty'll get into the Labyrinth and do damage before Lord Jareth kills it. Still, seein' as our kinder will be here we'd like to know they're defended."

Sarah pondered that. "Well. I could ask the Helping Hands not to let anyone down and take the door off the wall. I could also evacuate the children through the fountain… Jareth says I have other powers from defeating the Labyrinth, but I cannot use them yet."

Quoyle nodded. "Its good enough for now," he cast an eye towards the covered hole in the ceiling. "but the Helping Hands may not remember not to drop someone in the middle of your parlor. They is helpful, but they ain't so smart. Ye ken?"

"I understand." Sarah agreed. 

Toby grumbled from Sarah's shoulder and she bounced him once or twice on her back to show she remembered he was there. Quoyle peered up at the baby. "That yours?"

"He's my baby brother." she explained. "Our stepmother wished us away."

He looked sympathetic. "That be rough. Sometimes human'folk make me wonder. I could ne'er wish off me kinder." he shook his head. "Yer welcome '_ere_, Ma'am. I'll see ye when I bring the kinder fer their lessons two weeks from now."

Sarah let him out the portable door and (after putting Toby into his laundry basket) collapsed into a soft armchair that Hoggle had found freshly dumped, the damp from the rain the day before hadn't gotten to it. It was one of the few things in the Oubliette that wasn't wood or metal. Nothing kept very well in the Junk Yard where it was exposed to all kinds of weather. The wood warped, the metal rusted, but the cloth things got it worst of all. There wasn't a piece of decent cloth to be had in the area.

Hoggle had told her that clothes, linens, and things had to be traded for from the Blind Spinsters in the Hedge Maze.

"I wonder if they have any kids to teach." Sarah wondered.

"Nah," Hoggle shook his head and scratched the back of his neck. "They is _Spinsters_, never married, no kids. Ye could wait for yer first month's pay from the Dwarves or ye could find something else to do." he cocked his head. "I tell ye whot, if ye can make up sachets and such what smells good they'll trade heavy for that. Ye can sew it up ye self or ye can take it to a seamstress. I reckon there's one a few tunnels over."

"I need a clock too." she murmured with a glance at her watch, which would eventually run out of batteries. "It can wait though. I need a mattress for the bed and blankets of my own." she got up and sorted through her leather bag until she came up with a bottle of perfume. "How much do you think this'll get me?" she asked as she handed it to Hoggle.

The dwarf took it and sniffed it carefully. His eye brows rose. "Smells right nice. Tha whole thing'd get ya some stuff, but a little vial would get ya the blankets ya need if you ain't picky 'bout pretty colors. Another vial'd get ya the mattress."

"I don't have any vials." Sarah started to say but Hoggle took something out of his pocket with a great grin stretched across his face.

He set a wooden tray of slender glass vials with wax stoppers on the low table between their chairs. He added a little eye dropper to them. Sarah grinned and picked up a vial.

"Hoggle, you're amazing!" she praised him.

"Aren't I though?" he preened.

***

One vial got Sarah feather down mattresses for both her bed and Toby's crib and thick, several fluffy quilts, and the smoothest linens she'd ever laid hands on. The Spinsters had liked the perfume even more than Hoggle had guessed, they'd even promised her another knitted throw made special.

A willowy man had appeared at her 'door' earlier that morning with the desks the Dwarves had commissioned; they were gorgeous things with leafs carved up the side. They were stackable and came with their own little cushions. At first she'd thought the glossy smooth wood had been varnished, but then Eronol (the elf who'd delivered the desks) had informed her that they'd actually just been sanded that smooth.

Sarah could see where they'd earned their reputation as wonderful woodworkers.

Toby was napping on Sarah's bed when Eronol arrived, he'd awakened long enough to look up at the man, make a sleepy noise and pass right back out.

The elf gave him an indulgent smile. "One rarely sees children of his age among my people, we are slow to breed and quick to mature. Who, may I ask, is the lucky father?"

Sarah noticed his eyes stray towards her bed which was so obviously meant for one. "He's my brother. Our stepmother wished us away." she explained.

Pity flashed in the elf's ancient eyes. "I shall never understand Mortals." he murmured. "My condolences, although for all intents and purposes you are his mother now and that is no cause for sorrow." he leaned over Toby and ran light fingertips over the tot's downy head. "Every child is a pure miracle."

"He is." Sarah agreed, although she held private doubts about the road ahead of her. What kind of mother would she make? Was she even ready for this? Shouldn't she have gotten a chance at her own life first?

Eronol glanced up as though he had heard her thoughts. "You are young for this responsibility." it wasn't a question.

She nodded. "It doesn't matter." she murmured but the elf shook his head.

Eronol placed one hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Sarah had never been overly fond of being touched by strange people, but the Elf carried himself in such a manner that she couldn't find it in herself to begrudge him. 

"Clan always matters." he told her in a fatherly tone, belied by his youthful face. "You cannot accredit yourself with the blame of this fiasco. The Labyrinth would not have accepted you if it had sensed a taint in your soul. You have sanctuary here and friends merely waiting to make your acquaintance."

"I didn't see the Labyrinth that way when I first came here." Sarah admitted.

The elf chuckled and released her shoulder. "You'll find, _Ailee Milatha_, that the Labyrinth -and its king- are whatever it is you need most. Once you needed a challenge and a villain, now you need a home the other half of your soul."

****

End Chapter Four


	5. Estce qu'il est vainqueur? Ah non

****

A Rare Breed

***

By: The Dragon's daughter

***

*Disclaimer* this is getting pretty old.

***

AU-

***

Chapter Five

***

Eronol's words hung in Sarah's ears for a long while after the immortal left her home. The lap desks he'd delivered were stacked neatly in on corner of her Oubliette in an area she'd intentionally left clear for lessons because of a smooth expanse of dark stone there that she could mark on with the few precious sticks of chalk that Hoggle had turned up for her.

Toby had woken up from his nap and was currently balanced on Sarah's left hip as she sorted through a basket of cold food that had appeared in front of her bare cupboard. There were a few tins of formula for Toby, as well as some heavy break and cheese for her. There were dried meats and fruits as well and a small tin of tea and muslin bags to brew it in. There wasn't a perishable item in the lot with the possible exception of the cheese, but Sarah understood how reasonable that was. The only way to keep such things was to get them fresh and eat them before they went bad or use magic to keep them.

"Half of my soul?" she wondered out loud as she sliced herself some bread and covered it with a layer of cheese. She took water with her meal and dried fruit. Toby sucked on one of his pre-made bottles. "How could Jareth be half of my soul? I don't feel like I have only half a soul."

Sarah was startled from her thoughts as a small explosion of light occurred over her pond and became a little goblin that promptly fell into the water.

"Help!" it cried in a high pitched, piping voice. "I be drownding!"

Sarah set Toby down in his basket where he dropped his bottle and pulled himself up by the edges of the makeshift crib to look over the edge at the goblin as his big sister hauled it out of the water and wrapped it in one of her sweaters to dry it off.

It shivered and looked utterly pathetic as Sarah rubbed the chill out of its thin limbs and fussed over it. "Thankee, mum." it whimpered when she was done. "Master didn't 'ave time to watch where 'e was 'porting me. 'E was in a rush, 'e was. Gotta new challenger and 'ad ta send warnings 'round the place. 'E sent me 'ere to tell ya to block up the 'ole in the ceiling."

Sarah blinked. "What's this? What do you mean by 'a challenger'?"

"I means a 'uman trying to solve Master's Labyrinth! That's wot I means." The goblin said. "Yer in the Oubliette and Challengers end up in 'ere just about all the time! Ye ain't been 'ere long enough for the Labyrinth to keep 'em away from ye, so's ye got to protect yeself."

"How long do you think I have?" Sarah asked gently. "Before the 'challenger' comes through."

The little goblin shrugged. "Dunno, mum. Dat depends on tha challenger. Getting through tha Labyrinth depends on the 'uman doin' it. Master said this one was pretty stubborn so's he'll get through the easy will-power stuff quick."

"I see." Sarah murmured, and stood up to peer through the sky light to the blue hands in the tunnel above her head. "Excuse me!"

A face appeared in the blue helping-hands. "Yes, Lady Sarah? How can we help you?"

"A goblin told me a challenger is coming through. If he comes through here could you not let him down? I'm afraid for my little brother." she told it.

"Oh, of course!" the face said. "It's a good thing you asked, he's nearly at the Card dogs now! We'll be sure to let him by for the next trap to get." To emphasize their point, the Hands pulled the dome lid closed over the hole. 

"Thank you." Sarah called and turned to the goblin. "All taken care of!"

The goblin. "That's good, mum. Kin ye git me 'ome?"

Sarah nodded, "Of course, let me finish my supper and get Toby. Would you like something?"

The goblin had crawled up onto Sarah bed and sat there wrapped up in her thick blue sweater. "Some fruit if I could, mum."

Sarah gave it some dried apricots and a ring of apple which it gnawed on happily as Sarah wolfed down her bread and cheese, chased it with some water, and held Toby as he finished off his bottle with a will.

"What is your name?" she asked the goblin. "You look familiar, have we met?"

"Zip, mum. I was there when Master took yon babe. Nothin' personal 'bout that, mum, I's just doin' me job." Zip said defensively.

Sarah looked away. "Oh, I see. No, I don't hold a grudge. It was my fault you had to come after all."

Toby finished off his bottle with a soft belch and looked up at Sarah as if telling her he was ready to go. Sarah pulled the sling over her should and tucked Toby into it. She held out her hand to the Goblin. "Come on, Zip. I'll take you home."

Zip allowed Sarah to pick it up and carry it over to the pond. Sarah touched the water with the tip of her shoe and concentrated of the small fountain she remembered in Jareth throne room.

She felt a cool rushing feeling sweep over her and suddenly they were standing before the fountain. Zip released Sarah's hand and scurried off to its chores with a wave good-bye for Sarah.

She felt a soft movement in the air behind her, as displaced air rushed aside to make room for Jareth as he appeared beside her.

"I see you brought Zip home yourself, I wondered if you'd just let her into the tunnels." he commented. Jareth dropped a light caress onto Toby's fair head and winked roguishly at him.

"Why? It was really now trouble on my part to bring it home. It wasn't as if I had something better to do. Zip was kind enough to wait while Toby and I ate." Sarah replied.

"Of course she was." Jareth said flippantly. "By the way, Zip is a female. It's difficult to tell if you aren't familiar with goblins."

Sarah flushed and didn't comment.

Jareth took her by the arm and led her through the palace. Sarah noticed that the turn of his mouth had turned grim. "I'm glad you came to the palace. I'm afraid I must ask you a favor."

"What favor?" Sarah asked dubiously.

"You must act as a guide for the misbegotten idiot who's wandering through my labyrinth," he said shortly.

Sarah blinked. "What? Why?"

Jareth sighed, and explained although he looked none too happy about it. "You remember how Higgul…"

"Hoggle."

"… how _Hoggle _helped you through the Labyrinth? Well, occasionally the Fates decide that a Challenger needs a little help. Normally they come by their help as you did, by coincidence. Except this time, they've come directly to me demanding that I send you."

"The Fates talk to you?" Sarah asked skeptically.

Jareth cocked an eyebrow at her and she subsided, forcibly reminded of certain lessons she'd been taught during her own course through the Labyrinth.

"… alright…" she said slowly. "What about Toby, I can't just haul him through the Labyrinth for thirteen hours. It wouldn't be fair to him."

"I have already arranged for that. He will stay with the Wood Elves. They are able providers and protectors, I can personally assure you that the only danger he will be in while he is in their care is becoming the most pampered baby in Arcadia." Jareth swore. 

Sarah watched his expressions; he seemed so different from the way he'd been when they'd first met. She knew he'd been acting a part then, but was this truly his real self? He seemed earnest.

Still, if she couldn't trust him now then she had no one to trust.

"All right, can you take him to the Enchanted Forest?" She loosed the sling from her neck and transferred Toby into Jareth waiting arms.

"Indeed." Jareth cradled Toby to his chest and smiled at Sarah. "Perhaps you should change into that ivory costume of yours? You'll seem more… in place."

Sarah glanced down at her worn jeans and green sweater with a shrug. "If you say so. Where is this 'challenger'?"

"Just concentrate on the concept of 'Challenger' when you teleport. The Labyrinth will do the rest." Jareth promised her.

***

Fifteen minutes later, Sarah appeared over a small fountain in the Shifting Maze. She pursed her lips and looked around herself, in search of her 'client'. It didn't occur to her that she was standing on the still surface of the fountain pool until she took a step forward and nearly fell on her face.

"Whoops!" she said with a blush and hopped down from the water surface, leaving a few spreading ripples where her feet touched it.

She'd changed into the dress as per Jareth's suggestion and had even pulled her hair up off her neck. She felt as though she looked the part of a denizen of the Labyrinth, although not as crazy.

"Deus Corpus!" A man's voice whispered behind her.

Sarah turned to find herself face to face with a knight in full plate armor. She blinked as she noticed the white surcoat he wore; it was decorated with a blood red cross… a Knight Templar. 

"Oh, hello there!" she chirped uneasily. "You wouldn't happen to be the Challenger would you?"

"You stood on the water as though you were Christ, what manner of sorcery do you have?" he accused her, leveling a damning finger at her chest.

Sarah cocked an eyebrow at him in an expression she found to be slightly redolent of Jareth. The Knight in front of her didn't back down but she decided that it was the testosterone talking.

"My own." she answered pertly. "I'm Sarah Williams and you are…?"

The Templar stiffened. "Sir Anthony de Borages. Are you another devil sent to torment me?"

__

Devil? Sarah wondered, but decided not to ask. "Um, actually I was sent to _help _you." she said dubiously, making sure to convey with her voice what she thought about that.

"Why should I accept your help? How can I trust you?" Sir Anthony asked dubiously.

Sarah chuckled as he unwittingly echoed the words she'd spoken to Hoggle so many weeks ago. "Well, Let me put it this way. What choice have you got?"

His blonde eyebrows rose and he pursed his lips. "I cannot refute your logic, Milady. What would you swear to, if I asked for your oath that you would lead me to the Castle at the Center of the Labyrinth safely."

Sarah chuckled. "I won't swear that oath. I was only sent to help you, not do it for you, that would defeat the entire purpose of the Labyrinth!" Inwardly she was surprised at the words that flowed out of her mouth because it seemed as though she hadn't willfully said them.

Sir Anthony shook his head and turned away. "I have not time for this foolishness. Begone!"

Sarah blinked as he suddenly stopped and stared at the wall before him. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"This was an open passage not seconds before." he said in a disbelieving tone. "Now it is naught but a dead end!"

The younger girl coughed discreetly and scratched the back of her head. "This part of the Labyrinth changes almost constantly. All you can really do is wander until you happen across the way out."

"I don't want _out_!" Anthony snarled at her. "I want to get to the center!"

Sarah shrugged and fell into step behind him, unwilling to waste more of his precious time. She followed him in silence for nearly half and hour before the Knight stopped.

Without a word he took a grease pencil from underneath his breastplate and knelt onto the ground to make a mark.

"I wouldn't recommend that." Sarah piped up, earning herself a glare from the Templar. "I tried it myself once, someone changes the marks. Besides, what good will they do when this section changes all together?"

Anthony scowled at her even more, but he put his pen away just the same. Under his breath she heard him mutter, "Such a wretched place, damn Lady Marigold!"

__

Marigold? Was that who he wished away?

Sarah felt something sweep over her just then, like a psychic tidal wave crashing over her and she saw a section of wall slide away to reveal Alf and Ralf guarding their doors.

Well, she was practically back at the Oubliette!

"You're right! It is wretched, isn't it?" Alf catcalled at the knight. "But that's only half of it!" his proclamation sent Ralf and his counterpart into gales of laughter that only increased when Anthony whirled upon them, sword unsheathed and disbelief etched into his handsome face.

"From whence did you two creatures come?" he sputtered.

"From your ass-hole!" Ralf's lower half volunteered crudely before receiving a kick from Ralf. "I've told ye to watch yer mouth!"

"Such a lie!" Alf laughed. "You always were such a liar!"

"I do not! You the one what always lies! Tell him, Lady Sarah!" Ralf looked cajolingly to Sarah who shook her head.

"I still don't know which one of you lies!" she replied. To Anthony she said, "The doors they guard are both ways out of this section. One of them leads to the Castle and the other to certain death, or so I'm told. You can ask the dogs, but one of them is a liar."

"You've never been through them?" Anthony asked skeptically.

"She has all right!" Alf told him. "Dropped straight into the Oubliette she did, I still ain't sure how she got out."

"She did not!" Ralf countered. "Went straight to the Goblin city she did, it plain as day seeing as she's still alive and in one piece what."

"Which is which?" Anthony asked Sarah.

She shrugged. "I couldn't say, obviously I picked the wrong one but as I still solved the Labyrinth. However, His Nibs sent someone to get me out so I wouldn't recommend asking me."

Anthony looked at her speculatively and Sarah decided she didn't like it.

"What?" she demanded testily, while keeping an eye out for a water source she could use to run.

"You confirm the red dog's story?" he asked her.

She blinked and nodded. "That's how it happened."

Anthony turned to Alf. "Sir, please tell me which door leads to the Castle at the Center of the Labyrinth. If you would be so kind?"

Alf scowled. "He does." he pointed at Ralf who looked sheepishly at Sarah and stepped aside from his door.

"A thousand thanks." Anthony strode over to the door. He opened it with one hand while standing aside and glancing in. After a while, he seemed satisfied and Bowed Sarah in.

She shook her head and went it, well aware that he was using her to check for traps. The ground remained firm beneath her feet and she found herself in the Hedge Maze. She turned to tell the knight all was clear, but he'd already entered… only to have a trapdoor open up directly under his feet.

Sarah peered down into the hole and winced as she head him hit ground. Ralf peered in and she glared at him. "You both lie, don't you!" she accused him.

Ralf shrugged. "If we feel like it, there's no rule saying whether we have to or not. His majesty leaves the decision to our 'discretion'."

"Do either of these doors lead to the Castle?" she asked tiredly.

Ralf grinned toothily. "They both do… eventually."

****

End Chapter Five


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